CBLDF Welcomes Jeff Smith to Board of Directors
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund proudly announces that Jeff Smith, the celebrated creator of Bone and RASL has been unanimously elected to serve on the organization's Board of Directors. Smith joins fellow authors Larry Marder, Jennifer L. Holm, and Paul Levitz, as well as industry leaders Jeff Abraham, Dale Cendali, Joe Ferrara, Milton Griepp, Andrew McIntire, and Chris Powell in serving on the Fund's Board in direct oversight of its activities protecting the freedom to read.
Smith says, “The CBLDF has always been an important organization to me, and I'm looking forward to increasing my efforts to support its work as a member of the Board. I'm especially pleased to help them with their excellent work protecting the Kids' Right to Read. CBLDF resources like Raising A Reader, and their constant schedule of education events make a huge difference in preserving the rights we all depend upon to make and read comics.”
CBLDF Board president Larry Marder says, “Jeff and I go back more than 20 years as friends and business collaborators, so it's an honor to have the opportunity for him join us on the CBLDF Board as we work together to increase the organization's ability to protect the freedom to read for readers and authors of all ages and all types of comics.”
Smith immediately lends his support to the Fund as part of their current Be Counted membership drive running until October 31. Individuals signing up at selected membership levels will receive signed copies of the strictly limited RASL: Limited Collectors Edition or the Bone: One Volume Edition. Everyone who joins or renews their CBLDF membership during the 2013 Be Counted member drive will also help CBLDF outfit schools and libraries in their community with copies of the education resources Raising A Reader or Manga: Introduction, Challenges, & Best Practices – two of the Fund's most recent tools for advancing literacy and fighting censorship.
About Jeff Smith
Jeff Smith (born February 27, 1960) is an American cartoonist, best known as the creator of the self-published comic book series BONE. Smith solidified the ‘90s’ Self-Publishing Movement when he joined other self-publishers and launched a new era of independent comics publishing, a movement that captured nearly 20% of the growing comics book market. In 1993, Smith breathed new life into the Graphic Novel format with The Complete BONE Adventures Volume One: Out From Boneville, which sold an unprecedented 50,000 copies in its first year. BONE won numerous American awards including 10 Eisner Awards and 11 Harveys, as well as European awards from Italy, Germany, and the French Alph Art.
In 2005, BONE was chosen to launch the first graphic novel series for children from a major publishing house, Graphix, an imprint of Scholastic Books. There have been exhibitions of his work, and in 2009 Smith was the subject of an Emmy Award winning documentary called The Cartoonist: Jeff Smith, BONE, and the Changing Face of Comics. Later works include critically acclaimed SHAZAM: The Monster Society of Evil, and Little Mouse Gets Ready, a comic for emerging readers that received a Geisel Honor in 2009. In 2013, Smith guest edited The Best American Comics anthology, and released his second major work, RASL, a dark, hard-boiled sci-fi story that focuses on an art thief who hops through dimensional barriers, hiding out on various parallel worlds.
About Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of the First Amendment rights of the comics art form and its community of retailers, creators, publishers, librarians, and readers. The CBLDF provides legal referrals, representation, advice, assistance, and education in furtherance of these goals. http://www.cbldf.org
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